Business Day: Defend hard-won freedom, Zuma tells ANC Youth League
--"Former deputy president Jacob Zuma yesterday called on the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League to defend the country’s hard-won democracy actively and fight social ills such as poverty and unemployment."

Times Online: Legal aid is getting scarcer for the young
--"“Young people need to talk to someone they can trust. There’s often no one there to pay attention,” says 18-year-old Jo, who is clearly indebted to Canvey Island Youth Project. She used to be at the community centre “every day, all the time” and, even though she is back at work, she still goes every week."

International Herald Tribune: War leaves 43 million children without education, study finds
--"More than 43 million children living in war-torn countries are prevented from going to school, according to a report released Monday by Save the Children."

Reuters: Nepal: Children still living in fear of Maoist rebels
--"Despite urgent appeals by local child rights' and human rights' groups not to engage children in their political activities, the rebels have turned a deaf ear, observers say... But the rebels reject such accusations saying that they never used children for their political or military activities."

Guardian Unlimited: Texting slang aiding children's language skills
--"Sending text messages - from the slang "wot" and "wanna", to the short cut "CU L8R"- may actually be improving, not damaging, young children's spelling skills, new research shows."

Sydney Morning Herald: Abandoned children pay price as Romanians work abroad
--"Romania has moved to stop a new form of child abuse caused by hundreds of thousands of parents leaving their children and seeking work abroad."

Detroit Free Press: Study finds weaknesses in child mental health care
--"U.S. children and teens who face behavior and mental health problems often have a hard time finding programs and specialists, a new study says. In Michigan, the problem may be worse than in other states because insurance coverage is more limited, experts say."

Globe & Mail: Tories' child-care plan falls flat, poll says
--"The Conservative government's $1,200 child-care payouts are seen as a nice gesture from Ottawa that will ultimately have little impact, according to the government's own public opinion research."

Reuters: Youth and children creative exhibition for Aceh community
--"Arts and crafts produced as part of creative healing workshops for tsunami affected children were displayed in a week long exhibition in Indonesia's western province of Aceh last week."